Nintendo and The Pokemon Company could be looking to sue Palworld developer Pocketpair outside of Japan, but doing so might not be easy, one attorney has suggested.

Palworld developer Pocketpair responded defiantly to a lawsuit launched by Nintendo, saying, ‘We move on.’ The lawsuit submitted by Nintendo accused Palworld of committing multiple patent infringements.

Pocketpair, the company behind Palworld, says it doesn’t know what patents it violated. The game has been described as “Pokémon with guns” by many players online.

Can the tension of "family friendly nice guys" and "we sue everyone and sent a disabled person to jail" really continue existing in perpetuity?

Analysis from a Japanese legal firm specializing in patent law (via Automaton Media) concludes that "patents established before the release of Palworld did not necessarily correspond to the mechanics of Palworld," while patents submitted after Palworld launched into early access earlier this year "worked to improve this."

It seemed like it was just a matter of time before Nintendo sued Palworld, but the lawsuit shines light on a bigger issue in the industry.